


Full Circle

by opkil



Category: Original Work
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-14
Updated: 2015-07-18
Packaged: 2018-04-09 07:54:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 5,108
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4340213
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/opkil/pseuds/opkil





	1. Chapter 1

Nothing could dampen his mood today. Not a weird angmoh passenger, not a Chinese National who spoke no English, No.

 

Today was the Mr. Tan's day. After all those months and years of slogging, it all finally paid off.

 

He saw a potential customer by the side of the road, a chinese lad dressed in black. There seemed to be something sombre about the way he carried himself. He stopped for him, and the young man got in.

 

"Where to?" Tan said. He tried to remain jovial, but there was something about the mood. This boy was in mourning, of some sort.

 

"Mount Vernon, thanks."

 

Tan fell silent. Mount Vernon was the local funeral service hall. Funeral services in Singapore were held underneath the blocks of flats, and when they're not, Mount Vernon was a common choice. There was a certain privacy to be had at Mount Vernon that obviously couldn't be gotten from the public void decks.

 

Honestly, Tan hated to drive to Mount Vernon. It wasn't that he was a particularly superstitious fellow, but he never liked the vibe he got from the place. He did not have particularly close relatives interred within the columbarium.

 

"Have you ever lost someone close to you, Uncle?"

 

Tan was startled for a moment, before he remembered that it was his passenger. His voice was husky, and affected by a sore throat.

 

"I nearly did."

 

Tan had nearly lost his daughter to cancer. He had been divorced from his wife for 2 years now, and while they weren't as estranged as they used to be, it was still a void in his life. He had never thought he would be come a 'Taxi Uncle'. Then the recession of 2013 hit, and hit hard. He was laid off from his job as Operations Manager at a Company.

 

"Did it feel like this?"

 

The Taxi stopped at a traffic light. Tan looked back, and saw the boy with tears shimmering from his eyes.

 

"My daughter nearly died. She choked so hard from the growth, that I truly thought it was the end."

 

Tan was a plain-spoken man. He had never completed his 'O' Levels. He just spoke his mind.

 

"My world was darkened since her diagnosis, and today's the day I'm bringing her to Universal Studios."

 

"Why U.S.S?" asked the boy. He choked back his tears and produced a feeble laugh.

 

"I promised Britt. I'm not a rich man, but a promise is a promise."

 

They both rode in silence, and Tan pulled up to the Funeral Halls.

 

The boy reached for his wallet, but Tan pushed the button to end the ride.

 

"You've been having a terrible day. I don't know your story kid, but this ride's on me."

 

"Thanks," the boy muttered.

 

He alighted, and Tan was on his way. He was a little happier, he couldn't wait to see his daughter again.


	2. Let's Dance Some more.

 

> "Well, it's a marvelous night for a moondance,
> 
> With the stars up in your eyes.
> 
> A fantabulous night to make romance
> 
> 'Neath the cover of October skies
> 
> And all the leaves on the trees are falling
> 
> To the sound of the breezes that blow
> 
> And I'm trying to please to the calling
> 
> Of your heart-strings that play soft and low
> 
> And all the night's magic seems to whisper and hush
> 
> And all the soft moonlight seems to shine in your blush..."
> 
>  

The song blared by the side of the Singapore River, from a nearby bar. Eleanore and Jason were holding hands, a little bit tipsy.

She wore a Little Black Dress, and carried a black handbag. Her mascara was slightly smudged, and her lipstick was left mostly on Jason's face or on a beer glass. 

He wore a nice tie and suit. He didn't really need to, coming from work, but he thought it appropriate to match his significant other's outfit.

"You're funny when you're drunk, Lea," teased Jason.

She did a funny whoop, a small dance to the sultry vocals of Buble. She let go of Jason's hand, and did a little whirl. She twirled around, happily. The hem of her skirt moving, but she didn't much care.

Jason sat down on one of the stone seats by the side, and watched her. Eleanore was cute when she was happy.

"Baby, come here for one more dance!" she shouted out to him.

Nothing could stop her today. She got her dream job, and she had her dream boy. Jason joined her and held her by the waist, and they did a little bit of a waltz. She held him tightly, and they kissed. A nearby group of youths cheered them on. Eleanore blushed a bit, and planted another big kiss on Jason.

 

"I love you," she said.

 

"I love you too, Lea."

 

"Let's dance some more!"

 

And they did. Eleanore and Jason danced the night away. They danced together, holding each other close. The world would laugh at two drunk fools in love dancing, but they really, really didn't care.

 

____________________________

 

 

> "When I grow up 
> 
> I'll be stable 
> 
> When I grow up 
> 
> I'll turn the tables "

The song played on her iPod, as they made out. Their bodies close together, as if it were the only natural thing. They had the whole weekend together, they would make the most of it. They barely had time back home to see each other, and they've grown to need each other, as naturally as one needed water.

They have had so much time together, they left Secondary School and grew into each other. There were no more secrets, no more uncertainties.

"I need you," said Jason suddenly.

Eleanore wondered what exactly Jason needed from her. Yet she loved that he did. Perhaps it was the beginning of a terrible thing, the women's magazines would tell her. She didn't much care.

She pulled him from the bed.

"I need you...to dance."

Jason smiled.

"Just like that day?"

_______________________________

 

 

> "Do you believe in magic?
> 
> In a young girls heart
> 
> How the music can free her
> 
> whenever it starts"

 

It was a silly carry over from American 'graduation' traditions. Yet here she was, Eleanore was dressed up to the nines, and she wondered if anyone knew it was her favourite song. She stood by the punch bowl, her cup filled with a fruit cocktail mix. She loved just chugging the little bite-sized sugary fruit into her mouth, and she did so.

 

"Hey, er...Lea?"

Her eyes widened, as she spilled a mini cherry onto the floor. She apologised to the figure in front of her, before looking up.

"Oh, hey Jason!" She greeted as brightly as she could. She felt her cheeks burning red. She was thankful decided to dim the lights.

"You wanna dance?" he said, awkwardly. 

 

She nodded, and she held his hand.

 

She led him to the dance floor happily.

 

They danced a few numbers, and Jason made to move to the side.

 

"Let's dance some more, Jace," she said, with a twinkle in her eye.

_______________________________

 

"You've been having a terrible day. I don't know your story kid, but this ride's on me."

Jason nodded wordlessly at the cabbie. He thanked him, and then he left the cab, as he walked slowly. Each step heavier than the next.

He replaced his earbuds into his ears.

 

> Nothing good was ever free  
>  No one gets it, no one sees  
>  So here you stand, beloved freak  
>  You're not alone  
>  You're not alone  
>  You're not alone  
>  Sometimes we get so tired and weak  
>  We lose the sky beneath our feet  
>  You're not alone

He willed himself to open the door. He saw her name.

Outside the hall, was a collage of pictures. Many of them taken from the many letters he had written to her. 

He went to a picture of the two of them.

 

"Let's dance some more, Lea."

 


	3. Britney: Today is a Good day.

> "Today is a good day for you, let the luck flow through your attitude towards life!"  
> -Cancer Horoscope for 15 July 2014

Nurse Diana prodded at Britney. "Britney, it's lunch time."  
She had fallen asleep in the middle of her reading. She had 'The Princess Diaries' open on her over-bed table. She absentmindedly scratched her bald head and looked up to see the Nurse. Diana was holding a tray of food, as she moved the book away. Britney found that she had been dozing off more as of recent. Doctor Sarah had mentioned that she might be feeling more weak as the drugs took more effect, but this was getting a bit ridiculous.  
  
"Was it cooked by Gordon Ramsay?"  
  
Diana chuckled. She laid the tray on the over-bed table, careful not to upset any of the tubes or drips connected to Britney's arms.  
  
"It was cooked by a Gordon Goh, maybe."  
  
Britney shuddered. Gordon Goh was a nice guy, and he would come by to ask what she would like to eat, but she didn't trust his cooking. He must cook well, she thought. Except that the hospital would order him to water down a soup or cut down on salt. Culinary suicide.  
  
She fished around the bedside table for her spectacles, and put them on. She thought her vision was blurry, so she took them off again and polished them with her blouse before replacing them. She looked across her bed for Caitlin, her room mate.  
  
"Di, where's Cait?" She asked the Nurse.  
  
Diana thought for a bit, and pondered.  
  
"I don't know."  
  
"Do you really not know, or are you just not telling me?" Britney grimaced, as she lifted the cover off her food tray.  
  
Diana walked toward Caitlin's bed, and started straightening the mess that was Cait's area.  
  
"I swear, that girl will be the death of me some day."  
  
Blissful ignorance was something that Nurse Diana tried to practice with her two charges. She was bound by the rules of her profession. She obviously knew exactly where Caitlin went, thought Britney.  
  
"She's at a consultation with Doctor Sarah then?" Britney pushed. She tried to shovel mouthfuls of the noodles into her mouth, but the soup was near tasteless.  
  
"She is."  
  
The young girl stopped trying to fight the noodles, her attention turned to the nurse. "Is it good news?"  
  
"I don't know."  
  
__________________________  
  
It seemed as though it had been years that she's lived at the hospital. So much so, that Britney didn't mind it here as much as she thought. The place had places where people cried, for good reason and bad.  
  
Her own mother cried when she had fainted at school, and when the diagnosis was confirmed. Leukemia was fatal and the chemo wrecked havoc on her immune system. The doctors decided that it was safest just to commit her to the long-term stay ward. Her father visited every weekend, and he would always buy her books. That was the one holdover from her usual school life.  
  
She enjoyed the silence between days, where she escaped into realms in the ink and paper. Until they moved a girl into the spare bed in her room. She didn't really pay any notice, past the bandaging done to the left side of the girl's face, covering her eye, and that she was bald too.  
  
They mostly kept to themselves. The neighbour girl drawing on her sketchbook, Britney reading and writing her stories.  
Until the day that her new room mate broke the silence.  
  
She felt a tickle of an eraser hitting her blanket.  
  
"Hey."  
  
She put her Lang Leav book down and looked up to see the girl grinning.  
  
"Yeah?" Britney asked.  
  
"What do you think of Horoscopes?"  
  
That was an odd question. Britney didn't put much thought into horoscopes. She knew that they were just general 'advice' that could be applied to anything one thought their mind to.  
  
"I'm mostly...apathetic?" Britney replied.  
  
The girl looked crestfallen. She had a newspaper out.  
  
"You have water left in your jug? I can't see very well from here" the girl waved a hand in front of her face and pointed out the bandaged eye.  
  
Britney looked to the side of her bed, and saw a mostly full jug.  
  
"Yeah, I do. You want some?"  
  
The girl got up, and walked toward Britney's bed. She then took the jug.  
  
Sensing something, Britney tried to stop her from pouring.  
  
The girl then proceeded to pour water to an area right outside of the cup and onto the bedside table.  
  
"...I am so sorry."  
  
The two of them stared at the puddle, then at each other. They broke out laughing.  
  
"I'm Caitlin, and I'm a cyclops." she offered a hand.  
  
Britney shook it.  
  
"I'm Britney, and I have tainted blood."  
  
"We would make a pretty badass team."  
  
____________________  
  
Diana was not two hours gone from the room, before she got a call on the pager from a colleague.  
  
"Hey Diana, I think your two girls are in the garden."  
  
She sighed, and checked her digital watch: 0200 hours. Patients weren't allowed out of bed from 2300 hours onward.  
  
She walked toward them, and peeked. She saw that they were seated on a park bench and talking. She decided to hide behind a corner.  
  
"This is the reason why I believe in horoscopes."  
Caitlin flipped to a page and pointed it out to Britney.  


> "Today is a day of setbacks, you would have to find a way to channel your innermost strengths to fight it."  
> -Virgo, September 20 2013.

 

"That was the day I was diagnosed. I had been having these odd dull aches from my eye for a while, and then this."

She pointed to the eye patch.

Britney instinctively held onto Caitlin's hand. Caitlin held on tighter, before continuing.

"I wonder if I'm half as sad because I cry half as little now. They removed the tear ducts and now all that's behind this eye-patch is a gaping hole, and maybe remnants of the tumour."

Britney shook her head.

"No, then it means you're a badass. You can tell all the guys that you had to fight off an eagle when you were younger."

Caitlin scoffed. "What guy would love a freak like me?"

Diana walked toward them.

 

"A guy you deserve, kiddo."

 

She hugged both girls, and she felt their tears on her shoulders. 

 

This, is why I do this job, she thought to herself.

________________________________

 

Britney wasn't there one morning.

 

Caitlin was alone in her room, and it felt odd. She was fearful. She had not made many close relationships ever since she had to leave school to deal with her illness. She had grown used to the fact that most of her old friends have probably forgotten her. The torrent of letters had dried up. Perhaps Britney didn't know it, but Caitlin saw her as her best friend.

 

Diana was early today, and she had her customary breakfast tray.

 

"Di, where's Brit?" she asked.

 

Caitlin braced herself for the answer.

 

Diana's face was frozen in this artificial smile.

 

"I don't know."

 

The fear froze her heart.

 

"She's..."

 

Caitlin hesitated to finish her sentence.

 

"Not dead, is she?"

 

The words hung in the air, as they stared at each other. Nurse Diana's face had a stone-like quality about it, an odd quality for her usually emotive self.

 

"No."

____________________________________

 

Diana wasn't lying. Britney wasn't dead.

 

Caitlin found it in herself to eventually break out of her room. She didn't leave it without Britney, because Diana would insist that they had to go with each other. She couldn't wait. Caitlin waded through the crowds and the onslaught of visitors. They would stare at the sparse growth of hair on her head, but she didn't care.

 

She found herself following the signs to the Intensive Care Unit.

 

She walked past the different rooms. Each room had a window to show each patient hooked up to their machines.

 

And in one, there she laid.  
  
Caitlin crept into the room. Britney laid in the bed, hooked up to so many tubes and to so many machines. She took a seat next to the bed, and just stared at her friend's body. Britney was asleep, and she looked peaceful.  
  
Caitlin found her hand, and held it lightly in hers. She did not cry, nor did she feel the urge to.  
  
"Please don't leave me alone. If you have to leave, then please go. I'll see you across the river."  
  
Diana opened the door, and found Caitlin seated next to the bed.  
  
"She'll be fine, right?" Caitlin asked, without turning. She knew that Nurse Diana would eventually find her here. It was in her nature, and possibly part of her job to always know where she had gone.  
  
"I really don't know, but if we know anything about Britney...she's a fighter."  
  
"No, she isn't. She's like a lost lamb," Caitlin smiled weakly. She felt the tears well up in her good eye. Then it started flowing.  
  
Diana hugged Caitlin, tightly. Caitlin accepted the embrace.  
  
"Even the most lost lambs yearn for home," Diana whispered soothingly. For a tiniest moment, Caitlin accepted the comfort.  
  
__________________________________  
  
2 Weeks later, Britney made a full recovery from the coma. The doctors managed to stabilise her, but their orders were clear--they didn't know how long more she could hold out.  
  
Caitlin welcomed her back, and respected that Britney was more fragile now.  
  
And when Caitlin sat by the bedside of Britney, they would just silently accept each other's company. Caitlin would bring her sketchbook over, and she would lean back on the chair and sketch. Britney would be back on her notebook writing her stories, her poetry. They would do their 'homework' from the school.  
  
"Hey Cait, what do you think of this poem I just wrote?" Britney asked.  
  
She read it out:  
  


> Lullaby  
> 
>
>> Sleep Soundly, my love.  
> You're safe now, I promise.  
> Nothing can hurt you, for I am here. 

> > Keep your eyes shut, and stay with Dream.  
> Forget your nightmares and your fears.  
> They can't hurt you anymore. 

> > I'll hold your hand while you rest.  
> So that you will not be lonely.  
> I'll be here until you wake. 

> > So that you can feel warmth,  
> And comforted in a night as cold as this.  
> So that you can feel protected. 

> > Home is where your rest,  
> and that is where you must know this best.  
> That you're always welcome to my love.
>> 
>>  

When Britney was done, the ball dropped, and Caitlin looked at her.  
  
"How did you know?" She asked, staring at the notebook.  
  
"'I'll hold your hand while you rest. So that you will not be lonely. I'll be here until you wake,'" Britney reread the verse. "I knew you were there."  
  
Caitlin touched her hand on Britney's.  
  
"Don't you do that again."  
  
Britney was taken aback by the words.  
  
"Write?"  
  
Caitlin shook her head. "No, nearly die."  
  
 __________________________________  
  
The nurses fussed over Britney, and dressed and moved her. The doctors had found a match to her bone marrow, and a transplant had been arranged and that was the end of it. Britney was more worried about Caitlin.  
  
"You'll be waiting, right?" she asked Caitlin.  
  
The nurses were about to wheel Britney off to the operating theatre.  
  
Caitlin held her hand, and kissed her on the forehead.  
  
"I will."  
  
__________________________________  
  
Britney put on her dress, a simple black dress. Her old clothes were all much too small for her now. She wore the skull cap, and then wig that Diana had bought for her, a nice black wig that reached to her shoulders. She had nearly forgotten how it had felt to have hair to beautify.  
  
"Think I could pull off a pixie cut?" she asked the nurse.  
  
"I think you could pull off almost any hair cut, sweetie. Your facial structure could prolly support it."  
  
She could scarcely wait to see Caitlin again. She had been stuck in the isolation room to ensure no contamination could occur whilst her immune system was reset. Yet it was odd that she didn't even receive a letter or a note.  
  
"Can I go see Cait?" Britney asked the nurse.  
  
Diana smiled, and they left for the old room together.  
  
They navigated the twists and turns of the hospital, until finally they reached the hallway.  
  
"I think you should see this for yourself, dear," Diana said, "I have stuff to do."  
  
Britney nodded, as she walked slowly. Diana disappeared into one of the nurse's staff rooms, and she was left alone.  
  
She wasn't sure why her heart beat as fast as it did, but she walked slowly toward the room.  
  
She closed her eyes and turned, and saw two empty beds.  
  
__________________________________  
  
Fear gripped her, and she realised what had happened.  
  
There were only two possibilities. One, Caitlin was dead. Two, She was discharged.  
  
"Where are you," she said to no one in particular. She walked into the room, and then to the window.  
  
"WHERE ARE YOU, CAITLIN?" she shouted in anguish.  
  
"Right here."  
  
Caitlin stood at the door of their old room, wearing a checkered dress of blue and white, and her head covered with a flaming red wig.  
__________________________________  
  


Albert Tan walked into the Hospital, his stride was wide and strong.  
He had parked his taxi in the carpark, and he felt himself walking faster and faster with each stride.

His little girl was in the room, with her friend.

He was glad to see her as she was supposed to be. 

"Hi Daddy!"

Britney hugged him tightly.

Britney was a normal teenage girl again.


	4. There is no way, I'm looking for a Boyfriend.

 

 

>  
> 
>  
>
>>  
>> 
>>  
>>
>>>   
>  There is no way I'm looking for a boyfriend  
>>> 
>>> There is no way I'm looking for a scene  
>>> 
>>> I need to save some dough I'm a working girl, you know

>  
> 
>  
>
>>  
>> 
>>  
>>
>>>  I'll fend attention off I keep to myselfI love my room, I'm getting used to sleeping  
>  Some nights I really like to lie awake  
>  I hear the midnight birds  
>  The message in their words  
>  The dawn will touch me in a way a boy could never touch 

>  
> 
>  
>
>>  
>> 
>>  
>>
>>> Their promise never meant so much to me  
>  You have been warned, I'm warned to be contrary  
>  Backward at school, I wrote from right to left  
>  Teacher never cared for me  
>  Preacher said a prayer for me God help the girl, she needs all the help she can get

 

 

 

-God Help the Girl, Belle and Sebastian

  
  
Diana lit a cigarette. She wondered if the boy would ever call--that was who she needed most now. She leaned on the railing of the little balcony of the apartment, and looked out to the trees and the roads behind her block. The view was an odd juxtaposition of the concrete and the jungle. Perhaps she could write a poem about it.  
  
Her phone rang, playing a guitar riff as its ring tone. She looked down to the caller ID--her boyfriend, Richard.  
  
"Hey babe."  
  
"Took you long enough."  
  
She wondered why she took on such a tone.  
  
"I'm sorry, I was out at the bar. The band wondered when you'll show up."  
  
"I was busy."  
  
"Listen, could I come up to your place?"  
  
Sex. That was all he was ever about. That was all he ever wanted.  
  
"No. You can't ever come up again." She replied. She wasn't sure where she was going with this.  
  
There was silence on his side. She decided to just roll with it. Her cigarette glowed bright, as she inhaled, before continuing.  
  
"I'm breaking up with you."  
  
She hung the phone up, the consequences be damned. She turned her phone off, and went back into the house.  
  
"Sonia, is that you?" her mother called.  
  
Auntie Sonia had been dead for years. Diana went up to see what her mother wanted.  
  
_______________________________  
  
The room felt too white. she wondered how the doctor could stand being in such a sterile room for so many hours on end. Perhaps it was a way to unnerve their patients, or maybe just an outdated idea. She had no idea.  
  
"I'm afraid that it's Alzheimer's Disease," the doctor said matter-of-factly.  
  
Diana nodded, she was numb with the revelation, but not surprised. She had worried it was some sort of brain cancer. She was taken aback at how refreshing it was for a doctor to not dance around the matter at hand. She appreciated a man of candor.  
  
"There's a brochure about the condition, and what could be done. You should speak to a relative on how to take care of your mother."  
  
The doctor had a point. She was only twenty-one, fresh out of school. The most logical way out was to speak to a relative.  
  
If only she had any worth trusting. When her mother married her father, their family cut them off on a religious disagreement. Her parents being both block headed, and also idealistic, left their religions and their families behind.  
  
She walked to where her mother was, in the room where she was watched over by the nurses.  
  
She looked to the head nurse. He gave her a thumbs up, recognising her from earlier.  
  
She wheeled her mother to the taxi stand, and they went home.  
___________________________________  
  
"Diana, is there more to life than...just going to die?"  
  
Caitlin asked the nurse. Britney had gone for another consultation, and Caitlin was bored. Diana had brought her lunch to her.  
  
"Why such a question, Cait?"  
  
She saw that Caitlin's sketchbook was left open on a sketching of the view from the window.  
  
"I don't know. I don't know what I would do if I ever recovered. I only have the one eye, and I don't know what people would want from a one-eyed girl who's been sick and who can only draw."  
  
Diana took the sketchbook from the desk, as Caitlin ate her lunch. She flipped through it, and found a portrait of herself.  
  
"You never know. Perhaps you see things much clearer than most with two eyes."  
  
Caitlin saw the picture she had flipped to.  
  
"Do you think that's nice? I drew it of you when you were cleaning up the other day."  
  
"I think it's more beautiful than I really am."  
  
Diana paused, as she took it in.  
  
"I think you look exactly like that," Caitlin said, smiling at the Nurse.  
  
Diana tutted.  
  
"Lacking in subtlety. Your art is a bit too dramatic, I don't look half as beautiful as you think, though I will say that your sketch is much more organic than one would expect."  
  
She turned to leave.  
  
"Also, Cait, sweetie. Don't make a mess."  
  
Caitlin was left to her food, and wondering how Diana knew enough about artwork to make such a conclusion.  
  
____________________________  
  
"The lines are much too subtle. The layman wouldn't know what to make of it."  
  
Her mentor said of the sketch. Diana loved her portrait of her mother. She had intentionally studied the woman's wrinkles for the past week. Her mother just wondered what she was doing, always staring at her.  
  
"Aside from that, I think that it's a scarily accurate portrayal of your subject. Good job, Diana."  
  
He smiled, and moved on to the next student.  
____________________________  
  
"She just walked into the road. She bolted when I was looking away."  
  
Diana was in the police station, giving testimony.  
  
"I'm sorry to hear that, Miss Hanul." The police officer said. He tried to console her.  
  
"Diana, please." She hated being referred to as her father's name.  
  
The policeman continued writing on his bit of paper. He sipped his coffee, and signed the paperwork. He then got up, and opened the door. She looked up, and walked for the door. She had calls to make, perhaps to her uncle Benedict.  
  
She was out on the street, and she had never felt more alone. No, she had never felt more numb. She had spent the past two years taking care of her mother. The inheritance money that her Dad left her was barely enough.  
  
She felt relieved that her Mother had died.  
____________________________________  
  
"Your mother is in impeccable health, past the Alzheimer's."  
  
Doctor was giving her the break down of the examination he had done on her mother. It had been a year since the initial diagnosis.  
  
"I'll have to say that you have been taking very good care of her. Her blood sugar levels are healthy, and she looks a bit plumper than she did since the last check up," he continued with his commentary.  
  
"I just feed her properly, and ensure that she takes her showers, really."  
  
"You would make a good nurse, or a mother. I wish I had more nurses like you, truly."  
  
Diana smiled, she thought she was doing the bare minimum.  
  
"In any case, I'll see you back here in about 3 months, and you best keep her on the medication."  
  
____________________________________  
  
"I'm very sorry to hear of the accident," Doctor Lim said to Diana.  
  
Diana thanked him for the condolences. She was at the funeral wake, greeting relatives and guests. She had hired a parlor, a small funeral was sufficient.  
  
Old friends of her mother's had come down to say their farewells, and they donated generously. When they cleared out for the night, she was left alone with the casket.  
  
_____________________________________  
  
"I don't understand that girl, Diana."  
  
Diana overheard talk from the next desk.  
  
"She tries so hard, she's top of the class, but she doesn't have a life."  
  
"I hear she just goes straight home after class each day."  
  
The other nursing students were vicious in their gossip. She had overheard other speculations. From attacks on her gender identity, to attacks on her having 'secret mafia' associations. She shrugged them all off.  
  
She was here for one reason, and one reason only--to become a Nurse.  
  
_____________________________________  
  
"Hey Di, Britney and I got this for you."  
  
Caitlin had wrapped a thin present. Britney and her were both sporting pixie-styled haircuts. They had called her to have lunch at the Hospital cafeteria, and they were tucking into the muted flavour of hospital nasi lemak.  
  
She took it tenderly in her hands, and unwrapped it. She uncovered the wrapping paper, and saw that it was a sketchbook. She flipped it open, to the first page.  
  
It was a coloured drawing of her. Similar to the one she initially saw in Caitlin's sketchbook all those months ago.  
  
And on the right, was a poem in Britney's handwriting.

 

 

Nurse

Dedicated, caring and kind.

Trustworthy, tough and fiery.

That is the life of a Nurse.

Saving lives, and brightening up the darkness.

Strict, yet understandingly so.

Sweet as a lollipop, fighting the bitterness.

 

Beautiful.

A warrior made of Love.

Fight, Nurses! Fight for the sick, tired and weary.

She felt tears well up in her eyes.

 

She had finally found her purpose.


End file.
